Lexus’ display at the 2005 Los Angeles Auto Show simulates the company’s adaptive front lighting system, which is available on the RX 330 utility vehicle and LS 430 sedan.
In that system the left headlight beam rotates from 0 degrees to 15 degrees in a left turn while the right beam remains in the center position, allowing a driver to see deeper into a curve. The right beam rotates from 0 degrees to 5 degrees in a right turn. A self-leveling feature levels the lights, depending on road conditions, and an AFS on/off switch allows the driver to disengage the system.
Another display simulates the night view option on the LX 470, which uses near-infrared technology to illuminate everything in front of the vehicle to a distance of nearly 500 feet. Light beams projected from two lamps in the lower grille reflect off objects in the vehicle's path, bouncing back to a camera mounted inside the top of the windshield. A computer processes the reflected beams into natural-looking images projected onto a section of the windshield in the driver's field of vision.
An intuitive parking assist simulation displays a front bumper fitted with ultrasonic sensors. As a visitor impersonating a parked car approaches the bumper, a pictograph appears on a plasma screen, rendering the parked car or other obstacle’s location relative to the bumper as it would in miniature within the vehicle's instrument panel. The parking assist system sounds a tone from the front speakers if the obstacle is in front of the vehicle or from the rear speakers if the obstacle is behind.
"Our new technology displays feature some of the advanced systems offered by Lexus to enhance safety, comfort and convenience," says Mark Templin, Lexus vice president of marketing.
